White Diamond unleashed a blast of her light aura at Inconel. Her rage fueled the power behind it, and the massive alien was shot back towards the water. His physical body vanished in a cloud of silver dust. The Metal scale at his core dropped into the sand with a heavy thud.
The silence that followed her assault was deafening. The attack was meant to shatter him, but his gem, or whatever it was he had, hadn't received a scratch. She walked over to Inconel's metal scale, picked it out of the sand and bubbled it. If she couldn't shatter him, then she would assure he didn't reform.
She left the white bubble floating near the water to deal with later. White looked back to see the beach littered with the small shards of Spinel's pink gem. Her stomach twisted; the Organic food she had eaten threatening to make a reappearance. She was to shaken to cry, or feel much more than the lingering rage for Inconel. Instead went to collect the shards.
"I'll have you back to your old self in no time," White whispered to the silent shards in her palm. She sniffed; her eyes watered as reality crept in. She gazed at the broken pieces of her little pink Gem. With all the pieces, she could bring Spinel back. Even missing a piece or two, Yellow could use her powers and restore any damage to her physical form. But the thought of leaving even a sliver of Spinel on the beach had her stomach in knots, and she scoured the sand. She made sure she got every piece.
As White searched, her mind spun. What in the world was the creature she had just bubbled? Inconel was able to shatter a Gem without even touching her. More than that, White couldn't shatter him, even after she hit him point blank with her strongest attack.
Inconel wasn't like a Gem so he couldn't shatter, but he had to have some sort of weakness. White put Spinel's last piece into place, and despite the cracks, the little pink heart was complete. She closed her fingers around Spinel and held the pieces close. "Oh Spinel, I'm so sorry. I wouldn't have let you get so close if I knew…It was me he was after, for whatever reason." White peeked over her shoulder at the bubble and grimaced. Inconel had known her, somehow or another. And he wasn't the only one who did. Inconel said 'Magnetar' would be overjoyed to see her.
The same fear crept up her spine from the recesses of her mind. Just thinking the name made her want to retreat into her own Gem and hide. Why? She had never seen these creatures before! White shook her head to banish it from her mind. "It doesn't matter now," she promised Spinel's broken Gem with a sad smile. "Inconel is bubbled. We don't have to deal with any of this again. Now let's get you home."
Pop.
The simple sound made it seem like time had stopped.
With Spinel held close to her chest, White rotated to face the waves. Her bubble had popped, unable to contain or stop Inconel from reforming. The silver dust appeared again, his Metal core at the epicenter of the reaction. The dust became more scales that took the shapes of Inconel.
The metallic man stood up straight as the glow from his Scale dimmed. "That pink creature you have, has a Gem at her core," Inconel observed. He acted like he hadn't just been destroyed to atoms and then reconfigured in the same minute. His contemplative gaze turned into a glare, fixed on White. "There were more of those Gems my ship's scan picked up on. You made them all didn't you?" his tone was accusing. "That's why you're so small! You gave away too much of yourself! Magnetar warned you about this! He was right, you can't be left by yourself…. White Diamond, Magnetar can fix this, he can fix you. Come with me, now."
White formed a bubble around Spinel's Gem and tapped the top to send her to Homeworld. She was safe now, out of the way so White could deal with Spinel's shatterer. White wiped her eyes free of tears and pulled herself together. She allowed her anger to boil away her fear. "I don't like to repeat myself," she hissed. White pooled her power into her eyes. It had been a while since she used her ability to hijack other's bodies, but she hadn't forgotten how. "I said I don't know you! Now leave me be!" She blasted her thoughts at Inconel's core. She intended to walk him right back into his ship once she had control and fly him into the nearest star.
Her attack hit his Scale core dead on. It bounced off into the sand like a harmless beam of light into a mirror.
Inconel was unaffected, but he still examined his Scale for damage. There was none.
White felt her mouth hang open. She took a step back as his focus rose to her once more. "You must have been so alone all this time," Inconel almost sounded sympathetic. The statement dripped with condescending pity. "But it's ok now. Magnetar will take care of you again." He loomed over her; his arm reached out again.
"Oh no! White Diamond's bubble is going to pop!" Padparadscha gasped somewhere behind White.
White spun around in time to see Lars stationed on a sand dune with his crew. The former human gasped a deep inhaled, then unleashed a roar like scream. His voice warped the air into a shockwave that smashed into Inconel and sent the massive form flying back into the ocean.
Lar's cleared his throat and smiled when White gawked at him. "It's a pink power thing. You looked like you needed help…where is Spinel?"
"We need to leave," White insisted. She pulled herself up straight and headed for her ship.
"What's going on?" the left Rutile asked.
"What about the Organics?" her sister finished.
White gave the distant village a glimpse. She felt a twinge of worry for the six-legged creatures and her Gem's stationed to protect them. But then she heard Inconel calling out to her from the waves.
"He's after me," she said. "I'll lead him away into open space where he can't do anymore damage."
"We have your back," Lars said with a thumbs up. White recognized the motion. A human gesture, meaning everything would be ok. Lars pressed a button on the ship portal on his wrist. The Sun Incinerator answered his command and flew up from the hills to hover overhead.
White activated her own ship and rushed inside. She sat in the control room, going through the steps for a quick take off. Her ship hovered over the beach, ready to fly off. She used the view screen to lock onto Inconel's image. He stumbled into his own ship to give chase. Just as she predicted he would. Her ship accelerated out of the atmosphere at her command. The proximity alarm blared around her as Inconel's vessel trailed behind. He was hailing her, but she ignored the call.
She shut every auditory warning off, the blaring alarms riling her anxiety. She found the sudden silence worse. Silence reminded her there was no Spinel. She was alone. "At least Spinel is safe," she told herself. Her bubble would have appeared in Yellow's study soon after White sent it there. "It's going to terrify poor Yellow and Blue," White realized. Guilt stabbed at her even more. Spinel was supposed to be safe with her, but her shards will appear in Yellow's study with no explanation. She had to lose Inconel so she could hurry back to Homeworld.
Though it was now silent, the flashing light on her counsel meant Inconel was still trying to reach her. She gritted her teeth and overlooked his hail for another flashing light. The other hail was from Lars. She answered that one.
Lar's image came on the screen where the black of space had once been displayed. "You were right, metal man is right on your tail. What should we do now?"
"Our lazars are still unable to penetrate the enemy's shields, Captain," White heard one of the Rutile's say.
"We can't put a dent in him," Lars said to White.
She pursed her lips. "We can't lead him back to Homeworld, that is a given. If we can't attack, we need to lose him."
"Captain Lars!" Padparadscha gasped. "My vision tells me that the Enemy ship is trying to catch up with White Diamond!"
"What's this guy's problem with you?" Lars asked. "The only reason he didn't attack us while we were all in camp was because he saw you. He was guns blazing when he attacked us at first but now, we are buzzing his ship and he could care less."
"I don't know what he wants," White said, a bit to defensively she realized when Lars raise an eyebrow.
"Is that him hailing you?" Lars said. She assumed he saw the flashing lights illuminating her face.
"Indeed, it is," she huffed.
Padparadscha's voice intoned from off screen. "I predict, White diamond will become very irritated with the endless hails from the enemy ship."
"Hm," Lars leaned back in his Captain's chair as he contemplated their situation. "Maybe we can fish for information. Answer the hail and we'll listen in. You ask what his problem is, and we determine how to ditch him while he's yapping."
Despite there not being many other options, White didn't want to answer the hail. She had no interest in what the creature had to say. If she had been able to, she would have left him shattered on the beach. The fact that didn't happen made her feel worse. She wasn't even able to avenge Spinel's shattering correctly.
She stopped stalling and touched the screen to allow Inconel's image to appear before her.
Inconel let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, White Diamond, for finally answering the hail. Please, I know you don't remember me, and you must be scared, having been out here for so many eons alone-"
White was the one to interrupt him this time. "That is enough of that! I have done very well by my myself. Now we have already had this discussion before, and now we stand at an impasse. You maintain we have a history. I on the other hand know we don't! I have no intention of going with you anywhere Inconel, so whatever you have to say better have some sway. Otherwise, you can kindly go get lost in an asteroid field."
Inconel considered her words with carful strokes of his reflective chin. White couldn't help the smile that crept onto her lips. She had shut him up at last. "You recognize Magnetar's name, don't you?"
White fought against the urge to rush from the control room screaming. She did indeed recognize the name, like an almost forgotten song which had long ago drifted from memory. She couldn't recall the words or melody, but the feelings attached stayed behind to haunt her. It must have been a very dark song indeed.
"I see it in your face you know him. Hear me out White Diamond. Magnetar is a supremely powerful force. I and the other Alloys serve him. I don't know how, but you have somehow forgotten your history with him."
"Preposterous," White spat. "I know my own history!"
"How did you come to be then?" Inconel asked.
White's mouth snapped shut. She had no answer to that question. Memories of the Organic child's quandary about her origins came back to taunt loud in her mind. She felt her face warm when Inconel gave a victorious grin. "You see? You know you're missing pieces of yourself. Magnetar is your past. You are his missing piece. Please, stop your ship so I can take you to him."
'Is there something beyond what I remember?' she thought, not happy at all how Inconel had her doubting her own confidence. It was an odd twist of irony. Every Gem burst into being with the knowledge of who they are and why. Even her other Diamonds recalled the day they came to be. White stood alone in that regard. She had no true idea how she came to be. She had just always been there. She didn't want to admit it, but that was suspicious.
She snapped out of her musing when she saw Lars on the other screen, invisible to Inconel. He waved his hands to silently get her attention. "I'll be back," White told Inconel and canceled their communication before he could protest.
"I have an idea," Lars said.
"Whatever it takes to shut him up," White agreed. She rubbed her temple to ward off a headache.
"This guy is complete convinced he needs you to go with him, so no matter what you say he isn't going to back off, even if you try and shake him. He has to get you back to this Magnetar guy, safely."
"That would seem to be the current dilemma," White sighed.
"So, I wonder what he would do, if instead of us attacking him, we attacked you?"
White hummed out loud. It wasn't an unreasonable plan. "Will you be able to get away from him once he is focused on you?"
Lars laughed. "We have a knack for outrunning hotheads in space, trust me! The second he's focused on us; you hightail it back to Homeworld and sound the alarm."
White agreed to the plan with a nod. Lars gave the command, and her ship lurched when the Sun Incinerator's weapons hit the hull.
At once Inconel's ship broke away from White's path and unleashed a hail of laser fire at the Sun Incinerator. Lars was right. Inconel was determined to defend her, even if it meant him losing sight of her course.
"We'll ditch him in the next galaxy over, see you back on Homeworld!" Lars said before his image vanished. White prepared her hyper jump. As it charged, she watched the Sun Incinerator zoom off into uncolonized space with Inconel's attacking vessel close behind.